6 Weeks Post Op

Hey guys!

I'm very happy to announce that I am now 6 weeks post op from my double jaw surgery and genioplasty. I'm going to try to cover everything in this post and not ramble on for hours.

Appearance:
I'm becoming more and more happy with the outcome. At first I wasn't really happy with the way I looked. I got all caught up in the swelling and couldn't appreciate the way I actually look now.

My swelling has gone down since last week although I notice it is up a bit on the side where I had the infection. My nose is still looking way better than it did pre op and my jaw line is getting more and more beautiful every day. I have to admit I am really happy with my new jaw and I can wear my hair up now and like it since I now have a jawline!!!!

Numbness:
The numbness has been the same for weeks. I am completely numb in my lower lip and my chin. Theres a pretty large region where I have no feeling and it hasn't change at all. I'm not sure how much feeling will come back but right now I'm not too concerned about it.

Eating:
I'm still working on chewing soft foods. By soft foods I mean overcooked pasta, soft potatoes and sweet potatoes, soft bread, and things that are cut small enough I can just swallow them. I do wish I could bite into a big sandwich but that time will come. I'm working on my diet and trying to bring more nutrition into it. I'm taking in a lot more calcium since my body is demanding it. I'm also trying to get more protein from beans and supplements and different things.

Healing:
As I mentioned above I notice swelling where the infection was. I still have a flap of flesh that is coming from the incision lines and I still have no idea what it is. I have noticed though that my sinus on that side is giving me a lot of trouble. My nose is constantly stuffed on that side and I once again taste that fluid I was struggling with on week two. I'm not sure if it's coming from my mouth or my nose but it tastes gross. I'm really hoping it's not an infection. I was going to call my surgeon to go in early but I thought I would wait and see if it gets any worse.

Energy Level:
My energy level is still pretty low for what I'm used to. I get really tired easily but since I'm having a hard time sleeping I'm struggling even more with this. I've started going to bed earlier because I got caught up in going to bed really late and sleeping in. Night is the only time I can just relax and be alone so I enjoyed staying up until 3am and watching sitcoms on my laptop, but I figured I better stop that and get back to sleeping like a normal person. I've been up early the last two days and I'm hoping my brain goes to sleep tonight.

Braces:
I'm going for an adjustment on monday. I'll get these wires removed and get some thinner ones which will be nice. No more big giant surgical wires!!! I'm also getting some hooks removed. I don't even think I need the additional hooks but we'll see how many go. I have no idea what I'm doing with my elastics. I'm still lost between what my orthodontist says and what my surgeon says (which are two different things in itself). I'm developing a fairly large overjet but the good thing about this is it will prevent me from relapsing into an underbite. I'm also going to be starting speech therapy next year to correct the tongue thrust. That reminds me, I better call her before I go away and get this thing booked.

Life:
I'm hoping to get my shopping done and do all my holiday baking before I go to australia. I'm now the proud new owner of a Kitchen Aid mixer. It's so beautiful! I can't wait to start baking. I've tried doing some shopping but I get tired after one store and I just want to go home and lay down. I'm going away in two weeks!!! We'll be gone for December so it's a nice long vacation and I hope that when I get back I'm not so swollen and that I can talk normally. I still have a hard time controlling my face and I still look like Joan Rivers when I talk! Ah well.

Anyway that should be it for today. I'll update if anything new comes up. I'm going to make a video but I'll probably do that tomorrow.

Terra

Summer Days

Hey everyone,

I feel so much better this past week than I've been feeling in a long time.
It's finally getting warmer in Toronto, and I feel like everything in my life is starting to go the way I wanted it to.
I find a good spring cleaning is a big help. When my space is a mess I can't get anything done.
I'm trying to figure my expenses all out since I want to make sure I can cancel all my un-needed payments  when I go to Australia.


Ohhh I almost forgot, I got a syringe from the medical supply store. The man working there said I could buy pretty much any width of tubing for it but he suggested one that would let the most liquid through and would probably work best for when I am wired. I'll have to do a post closer to my surgery date with a list of the things I have gathered so far and where I got them from. Considering I live in Canada, my international friends may have trouble locating some of these places but I'm sure you have similar (if not better) substitutes.

I've been slowly getting my hair to lighten. I also trimmed it last night. I've added in a lot of blonde in the ends but I'm going to lighten the whole thing by a couple shades in a month or two. The ends took a beating so I gave my hair a trim. I'll probably upload a video on youtube next time I trim my hair because I know all my friends hate the idea of going to get their hair cut, in the fear of having way too much cut off. I've been trimming my hair every 6-8 weeks and it's growing in longer than thicker than it has the past couple years.

Oh, I also almost forgot that I am seeing my orthodontist tomorrow.

I've been wearing my elastics all the time now, I had lost one pack and way running low, I didn't want to drive all the way out to my ortho who is outside the city, and I live downtown, so I searched and found the pack I had thought I lost.
I think these elastics are making my sleep apnea worse because I did  have an episode the other night that woke me up, that hasn't happened in a long time. One night I forgot the put my elastic in and I slept really well and woke up on 7 hours of sleep feeling well rested. With the sleep apnea, I can sleep for 11 hours and still be tired. I'll have to talk to him about this when I go in. I feel like I'm starting to look like my betta fish who clearly suffers from an underbite lol.

Other than that, not too much excitement.
I'm seeing Armin Van Buuren next weekend which will be pretty awesome.
It's Victoria day long weekend, or May 2-4, as most of us know it.
Maybe we'll get a beach day in too, otherwise it'll still be awesome to do something fun for once.

Getting better

Thank you so much everyone for being so wonderful!
Honestly your supportive comments mean so much to me, I know you all understand this process to a different level than people in my life do because they aren't going through it.
I do feel a lot better and I have realized how critical I have been on myself.
It's frustrating to have so much uncertainty with when the surgery will happen and when the braces will come off.
Really though thank you all so much. I feel like I've met some wonderful people.
I've already been in contact with a lot of you through facebook or email.
Please if any of you want to chat about our jaw situations feel free to email me or add me on facebook.
I dont think I would have done it if it wasn't for the amazing support group I've found on the forums, on blogger, on youtube, and on facebook.
Thank you all so much for reading, sharing your stories, and caring :)

JAW SURGERY DATE, and some other crap

Okay so this appointment didn't go as planned. It turns out that my top teeth should have been orthodontically positioned differently (well left in an open position). At this point my surgeon cannot do surgery on the top jaw. Therefore, I will be going back to the orthodontist to have my bite reopened and I have a surgery date set for October 5th, 2012.
I'll make a longer post when I have more time.
I'm not impressed, but I'll just let it be. At this point theres nothing anyone can do to fix this issue fast enough to have surgery sooner.